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Nvidia faces antitrust charges in France

Posted on by darion

In 2023, Nvidia said regulators had asked it to share information about its graphics cards. Source: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock.

NVIDIA, the American maker of chips for artificial intelligence (AI) and computer graphics, is on the verge of facing charges from the French competition regulator over alleged anti-competitive practices, sources say Reuters Agency.

The event comes after the recent attacks on the graphics card sector in September 2023, which primarily targeted Nvidia, sources said.

The raids were part of a broader investigation into the cloud computing industry.

Demand for Nvidia’s services skyrocketed following the release of its generative AI app ChatGPT, leading to heightened regulatory scrutiny in various regions, including both the US and Europe.

French authorities and Nvidia have decided not to comment on the matter, the newspaper reported.

In 2023, Nvidia admitted in a regulatory filing that regulators in the European Union, China and France had asked it to share information about its graphics cards.

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Sources indicate that the European Commission has no plans to extend the initial review for now, given that the French regulator is already investigating Nvidia’s practices.

Recently, the French regulator published a report on competition in the generative AI market, drawing attention to potential abuses by chip suppliers.

The report raised concerns about the industry’s dependence on Nvidia’s CUDA programming software, which is the only system fully compatible with the graphics processing units needed for accelerated computing.

The report also raised questions about Nvidia’s recent investments in AI-focused cloud providers such as CoreWeave.

Companies found to be in breach of French antitrust rules may be fined up to 10% of their annual global turnover.

However, they have the opportunity to offer concessions that allow them to avoid such penalties.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the U.S. investigation into Nvidia is being led by the Department of Justice, which is coordinating efforts to police big technology companies with the Federal Trade Commission.